BORDER REGIONS AND ETHNIC MINORITIES IN HUNGARY 1990
Jozsef Toth*
Izvleček UDC 911.3:323.15(439)
OBMEJNA OBMOČJA IN NARODNOSTNE MANJŠINE NA MADŽARSKEM LETA 1990
Analiza narodnostne sestave obmejnih območij Madžarske temelji na popisnih podatkih iz leta 1990 in prikazuje Slovake, Romune, Hrvate, Srbe, Slovence in Nemce.
Ključne besede: Narodnostna sestava, obmejno območje, narodnostna manjšina, Madžarska
Abstract UDC 911.3:323.15(439)
The article discusses areas and localities with the highest numbers and shares of Slovaks, Romanians, Croatians, Serbs, Slovenes and Germans m Hungary.
Key words: Ethnic Structure, Border Region, Ethnic Minority, Hungary
1. GENERAL SURVEY
Concerning the ethnic composition, the 1990 National Census, just as the one in 1980, gave information only on the villages. It is favourable at the same time, that these data are given on the same villages, so comparative analysis can be made in time. The data concerned the nationality and the mother tongue at the same time and also included such summaries as, whether the population speaks the given language. We can analyse, on the basis of the data, the most favourable places for minorities, the population - regarded minorities on the basis of the combinations of different criteria - and their place of living. It is only re grettable that we do not have basic data concerning the towns.
In Hungary there are 16 villages, where the overwhelming majority of the population can be characterized as nationalities on the basis of the combinations of the criteria. It is interesting, that fi-om these 16 villages 7 Croatian, 5 Slovenian, 2 Gennan and only one Slovakian and 1 Rumanian, 43 Hungarian vil lages have absolute /70-75 %/ majority of nationalities, from them 16 German, 15 Croatian, 10 Slovakian, 1 Serbian and 1 Rumanian. It is considerable, that from the 500 investigated villages in about 100 settlements live only one person, regarded as minority and in other almost 200 villages the rate of minorities is under 1%. The number of German inhabited villages is the highest /457/, than the Slovakian, Rumanian, Croatian, Serbian and Slovenian settlements follow. Considerable differences
* Dr. Prof, Department of General Human Geography and Urbanistics, Janus Pannonius University, Pecs, Ifjusag utja 6, Hungary.
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can be found concerning different nationalities, according to the various rate of the minorities/Table 1-2/.
Tab. 1: Number of the settlements with populations that can be considered minorities based on the combination of definitions, according to the rate-categories of the minorities /1990/
Število naselij v katerih živi manjšinsko prebivalstvo, ki ga opredeljujejo različni kriteriji
Minority
Nationality	Small proportion		Middle	proportion	Pregnant	
	minimal	accidental	palpable	considerable	important	definite
	1 person	<1%	1-5%	5-10%	10-25%	25-50%
Slovakian	77	155	19	13	26	15
Romanian	54	168	71	5	4	2
Croatian	70	93	49	9	12	10
Serbian	97	114	34	6	1	-
Slovene	42	28	2	-	-	1
German	7	67	101	92	118	54
Majority absolute
overwh 50-75%
Altogether elming >75%
Slovakian	10	1	316
Romanian	1	1	306
Croatian	15	7	265
Serbian	1	-	253
Slovene	-	5	73
German	16	2	457
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Tab. 2: Division of the concerned settlements among the rate- categories of minorities Naselja po deležu manjšinskega prebivalstva
Minority
Nationality	Small proportion		Middle	proportion	Pregnant	
	minimal	accidental	palpable considerable		important	definite
	1 person	1%	1-5%	5-10%	10-25%	25-50%
Slovakian	24,4	49,0	6,0	4,1	8,2	4,7
Romanian	17,6	54,9	23,2	1,7	1,3	0,7
Croatian	25,4	35,1	18,5	3,4	4,5	3,8
Serbian	38,3	45,1	13,4	2,4	0,4	-
Slovene	53,8	35,9	2,6	-	-	1,3
German	1,5	14,7	22,1	20,1	25,8	11,8
Together	20,7	37,3	16,5	7,5	9,6	4,9
		Majority				Altogether
		absolute		.overwh		elming
				50-75%		75%
Slovakian		3,2		0,3		100,0
Romanian		0,3		0,3		100,0
Croatian		5,7		2,6		100,0
Serbian		0,4		-		100,0
Slovene		-		6,4		100,0
German		3,5		0,5		100,0
Together		2,6		0,9		100,0
2. ETHNIC GROUPS 2.1. Germans
In absolute figures the Budapest agglomeration, Buda-side settlements, and villages connected to them, have outstanding values. The biggest German community with 3.500 inhabitants lives in Pilisvorosvar. In Baranya county Mecseknadasd and Boly have the biggest German minority. Concerning the proportion /disregarding some villages/ the settlements of Baranya and Tolna county play the leading role /Table 3/.
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Tab. 3: Settlements with the highest rate and number of German population /1990/ Naselja z najvišjim deležem in številom nemškega prebivalstva (1990)
Ofalu	88,0%	Pilisvorosvar	3.462
Obanya	79,1%	Osolnol	1.672
Liptod	72,3%	Hajos	1.581
Gorosonydoboka	71,5%	Budakessi	1.275
Vaskeresztes	70,6%	Hemesnadudvar	1.274
Vertestolna	69,2%	Mecseknadasd	1.266
Mecseknadasd	68,4%	Solymar	1.184
Szur	60,7%	Boly	1.176
Hassagy	58,8%	Taksony	1.087
Szakadat	58,5%	Tarjan	1.083
2.2. Slovakians
Totkomlos has got the biggest Slovakian minority among the Hungarian villages with almost 3.000 inhabitants. Except Totkomlos two South-Eastem Hungarian settlements are among the first 10, while the other 7 the parts of the settlement belt situated North-West to Budapest. We have only one village /Komloska/, where the overwhelming majority is Slovakian. From the Zemplen Hills further villages are at the category above 50%, while some from the Pilis Hills and fi-om Bekes county representing Slovakians. /Table 4/.
Tab. 4: Settlements with the highest rate and number of Slovakian population /1990/ Naselja z najvišjim deležem in številom slovaškega prebivalstva (1990)
Komloska	77,2%	Totkomlos	2.819
Vagashuta	71,7%	Pilisszentkereszt	1.325
Nagyhuta	71,1%	Kesztolo	1.035
Osagard	69,7%	Piliscsev	1.012
Repashuta	65,5%	Pilisszentlaszlo	986
Pilisszentkereszt	65,1%	Tardosbanya	695
Samsonhaza	60,7%	Sarisap	606
Pilisszentlaszlo	58,9%	Csabacsud	521
Alsoregec	53,1%	Pilisszentlaszlo	484
Kardos	52,5%	Kardos	478
The villages having the biggest proportion of Slovakian minorities are in villages situated round Budapest, the Zemplen and Bekes groups are remarkable and some bordering settlements are worth mentioning.
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2.3. Rumanians
There are two Hungarian settlements /Ketegyhaza and Mehkerek/, where the number of the Rumanian minority is above 2000. In Elek which is inhabited by three different nationalities, almost 1.000 Rumanians live, while in other settlements we can estimate the number of Rumanians few hundreds.
It is considerable that all of ten settlements - with the exception of Budakeszi - are situated along the Romanian-Hungarian border. The situation is similair if we take a look at the proportion of the Romanian minority; in this respect it is worth mentioning, that 90% of the inhabitants of Mehkerek are Romanian /Table 5/.
Tab. 5: Settlements with the highest rate and number of Romanian population /1990/ Naselja z najvišjim deležem in številom romunskega prebivalstva (1990)
Mehkerek	90,0%	Ketegyhaza	2.118
Bedo	52,0%	Mehkerek	2.033
Ketegyhaza	46,9%	Elek	993
Pusztaottlaka	35,9%	Magyarcsanad	355
Magyarcsanad	20,9%	Koroszsegapati	211
Koroszzakal	18,0%	Bedo	196
Elek	17,8%	Pusztaottlaka	178
Korosszegapati	17,7%	Korosszakal	157
Kalazno	9,5%	Budakeszi	145
Varalja	6,3%	Lokoshaza	125
The regional situation of the settlements with the highest proportion of the Romanian inhabitants, apart from border-region settlements, shows but a few places with smaller Romanian concentration.
2.4. Croatians
In all of the ten villages of the largest Croatian population more than 500 Croatians live. In three cases out of these the number of the Croatians is over 1000. It is considerable that the Croatians live in settlements quite complete ethnically: the proportion of the Croatians is over 50, in fact, 70% in many settlements (Table 6).
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Tab. 6: Settlements with the highest rate and number of Croatian population /1990/ Naselja z največjim deležem in številom hrvaškega prebivalstva (1990)
Felsoszentmarton	90,1%	Totszerdahely	1.166
Totszerdahely	87,7%	Kophaza	1.164
Totszentmarton	83,1%	Folsoszentmarton	1.124
Narda	80,2%	Murakeresztur	995
Szentpeterfa	78,6%	Szentpaterfa	851
Molnari	77,0%	Totszenmarton	834
Szentborbas	76,8%	Molnari	654
Dravasztara	73,5%	Bezenye	567
Potony	73,4%	Hercegszanto	560
Totujfalu	72,5%	Horvatzsidany	533
The settlements that have the highest proportion of Croatians are situated mainly on the border of Hungary and Croatia, and partly along the Hungarian-Austrian border. /On them and on the Slovenes would have based Benes, after World War I, the corridor that would have linked the two newly formed Slavic countries, Szehoslovakia and the Serbian-Croatian-Slovenian Kingdom between Hungary and Austria./ Although this corridor is not at all a homogeneous slov-ethnic region.
2.5. Serbians
There are much less Serbians in Hungary than it is thought in the public, quite often / accepting the official "Yugoslavia" nomenclature/ mixing Serbians and Croatians. Most of the Serbians live in Tokol, though their population remains below half a thousand even there. Their rate is the highest in Lorev, while they represent quite a modest rate in other settlements /Table II.
Tab. 7: Settlements with the highest rate and proportion of Serbian population /1990/ Naselja z najvišjim deležem in številom srbskega prebivalstva (1990)
Lorev	59,1%	Tokol	431
Batya	11,3%	Batya	272
Hercegszanto	8,4%	Pomaz	210
Szigetosep	7,0%	Hercegszanto	209
Tokol	6,8%	Lorev	185
Deszk	6,6%	Deszk	183
Ujszentivan	6,2%	Dusnok	159
Lippo	5,4%	Szigetosep	153
Dusnok	4,6%	Budakalasz	127
Magyarcsanad	4,6%	Harkany	120
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The Serbians in Hungary are concentrated in a stripe reaching North along the Danube, especially around Budapest. The angle of the Tisa and the Maros, and Southern Baranya mean further concentrations.
2.6. Slovenes
Most of them can be found in Felsoszolnok, but some smaller villages of the Orseg / Vendcountry/ are inhabited by Vends, too. The proportions are high there, on the other hand, apart from these settlements, we can find only some scattered Slovene ethnic groups with small population /Table 8/.
Tab. 8: Settlements with the highest rate and number of Slovene population /1990/ Naselja z najvišjim deležem in številom slovenskega prebivalstva (1990)
Felsoszolnok	92,7%	Felsoszolnok	701
Ketvolgy	89,4%	Apatistvanfa	368
Apatistvanfa	84,0%	Szakonyfaiu	296
Orfalu	80,5%	Alsoszolnok	186
Szakonyfaiu	76,7%	Ketvolgy	143
Alsoszolnok	41,2%	Orfalu	62
Batya	2,0%	Batya	48
Ronok	1,9%	Hegyeshalom	13
Bonnya	0,5%	Ronok	9
Horvatlovo	0,5%	Katymar	7
The regional situation of the settlements with the highest rate of Slovene population shows us the regional concentration of the Slovenes in Hungaiy well and also the fact that the number of the Slovene population living in other parts of the country is negligible.
2.7. Gipsies
Actually no one knows are the proper number of Gipsies in Hungary. The data of the National Census - while it is based on personal voluntary declaration, and it is not easy to undertake the name Gipsy - do not reflect the real situation. We are facing the same situation with certain surveys and the often exaggerating data of the recently formed Gipsy organizations.
One thing is sure: The number of Gipsies increasing quickly, the proportion of them in the decreasing population of the country is increasing as well. Their territorial placing is motivated by possibilities of residing characteristically with the accumulated disadvantageously situated regions concentrate them. The North-East and the South-West territories of the
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3. CONCLUSIONS
From the new borders of Hungary fixed after the Great War only the West and South-West lines were real ethnic borders. All the other parts of the borders cut territories inhabited by Hungarians. According to this historical fact ethnic groups living in Hungary are not placing along the state borders and they generally are not connected with the relative peoples of the surrounding countries.
Their spatial distribution is motivated by:
- historical reasons /Traditional areas of several ethnic groups inhabited after the end of Turkish occupationof Hungary/;
- special reasons /Serbs and Greeks around Budapest/;
- political discrimination after the Second World War /against Germans, Serbs, Croats/;
- "population change" between Czeshoslovakia and Hungary;
- role and possibilities of several ethnic groups in the process of urbanization;
- social structure and economic possibilities.
OBMEJNA OBMOČJA IN NARODNOSTNE MANJŠINE NA MADŽARSKEM
LETA 1990
Povzetek
Po drugi svetovni vojni so bile le zahodne in jugozahodne meje Madžarske tudi etnične meje. Vsi ostali deli meja so ločili z Madžari poseljena območja. Glede na takšna zgodovinska dejstva, živijo na Madžarskem številne narodnostne skupnosti ne le v obmejnih območjih, temveč po vsem njenem teritoriju.
Njihova razširjenostjo posledica:
- zgodovinskih dogajanj; tradicionalna območja nekaterih narodnostnih skupnosti so bila poseljena po koncu turške okupacije,
- posebni razlogi (Srbi in Grki okoli Budimpešte),
- politične diskvalifikacije po drugi svetovni vojni (Nemci, Srbi, Hrvati),
- izmenjava prebivalstva med Češko in Madžarsko,
- vključevanje posameznih etničnih skupin v proces urbanizacije,
- socialna struktura in ekonomske možnosti.
country shows us a characteristic picture, where the proportion of their residence is higher, and a belt between the two regions where hardly any Gipsies settled down.